Shu Takumi really has a thing for detective games involving talking to deceased people featuring a wacky team of legal workers and criminals centered around a grand conspiracy reaching back generations that you aren't told about until the very end, huh. I guess after replaying Ace Attorney 4 and the Great Ace Attorney, plus thinking about Professor Layton vs Phoenix Wright, I didn't really end up that invested in this story cause Shu Takumi really likes making this one type of story again and again.
But, gotta say, pretty good story this time around. The narrative never forgets the central mystery (despite how hard it tries to), the events of the game are engaging and present the MANY plot twists in a fun way, the conspiracy is easy to follow and explains every element of the strange game in it's own weird way, and even the themes manage to remain ever present without showing themselves too early. Then even the gameplay hits a nice sweet spot for mystery/puzzle games, where you want the player to experiment and try solutions within the rules without gaining access to information they shouldn't have yet, plus creating interesting consequences of these rules that will be brought up later to create new puzzles.
Shu Takumi's (well I have to assume it was him given he's the only credit that could possibly be in charge of this) story is classically wacky and weird in his usual style, and unfortunately this time it leads to much more of his usual unnecessary explanations or annoying conveniences. It was very satisfying to remember or realise something about the plot of this game directly before getting more details on that point, however it slowly turned pedantic as the game made sure you fully understood what the next plot element or explanation was in greater belittling detail the further you play (figuring out who the justice minister was ahead of time and what directly happens after that felt cool, until the game told you unnecessarily). And I understand this is me going into great detail about a nitpick, however this is how it feels whenever the game explains every scenario, nitpicks or not. That's before even addressing the time travel problems that always show up, conveniences of chance, and the overabundance of dialogue reiterating what is going on.
The music consists of very rock-spun ds detective sounding pieces all in a similar style to Ace Attorney, the sound effects are literally an alternate world's version of Ace Attorney sounds, but the visuals take a fun classic limited 3D turn into something from New Super Mario Bros that's always fun to look at. Animations are fluid (on this version) and expressive, popping straight out of the 2D-3D blend of backgrounds that look straight out of nothing, I can't think of a comparison it's just that uniquely stylized.
I don't know though, despite all my ramblings of 'idk pretty good, reaches just above a passing grade', this game reminds me how weird and wacky games can be. Why does this game exist? Fun, first and foremost. Every minor or major problem I had with this game was overriden by the things it does well that other games don't usually worry about that much. There's always something happening in the mystery so it's constantly recontextualising your understanding of what's happening, when most other mystery games I've played all work off a basic unchanging understanding of what's going on. New information is always being added (during investigation) whether it's useful or not, where other games give you information to confirm other pieces of information you already have. This game works off your pattern recognition to see connections through coincidence, adding on top of how other games work with your pattern recognition to follow more complex lines of reasoning than what had proceeded and to use the mechanics available to you in more complex scenarios. It's fresh (despite being over a decade old) and stretches some brain muscles that have been lying atrophied outside the 'safe' zone for mystery game design. And this isn't a dig at other mystery/puzzle games, just something nice to have and made this experience uniquely exciting to experience, covering over the problems this different style creates.
I don't know how to end reviews. Um... game good :)... uhh :|... Writing spoiler-free reviews of mystery games is limiting, but it's very much worth it to keep you following the logic in finding the conclusion along with the game. And damn, this one fun journey.
Really makes you feel like, wait what? Why did you barge into my house, can I help you? Did the lamp just move? Ghost Trick? What are you talking about, get out of my house. I'm going to call the police under my comical anvil hanging from a thread. Wait when did that pair of scissors get there?
But, gotta say, pretty good story this time around. The narrative never forgets the central mystery (despite how hard it tries to), the events of the game are engaging and present the MANY plot twists in a fun way, the conspiracy is easy to follow and explains every element of the strange game in it's own weird way, and even the themes manage to remain ever present without showing themselves too early. Then even the gameplay hits a nice sweet spot for mystery/puzzle games, where you want the player to experiment and try solutions within the rules without gaining access to information they shouldn't have yet, plus creating interesting consequences of these rules that will be brought up later to create new puzzles.
Shu Takumi's (well I have to assume it was him given he's the only credit that could possibly be in charge of this) story is classically wacky and weird in his usual style, and unfortunately this time it leads to much more of his usual unnecessary explanations or annoying conveniences. It was very satisfying to remember or realise something about the plot of this game directly before getting more details on that point, however it slowly turned pedantic as the game made sure you fully understood what the next plot element or explanation was in greater belittling detail the further you play (figuring out who the justice minister was ahead of time and what directly happens after that felt cool, until the game told you unnecessarily). And I understand this is me going into great detail about a nitpick, however this is how it feels whenever the game explains every scenario, nitpicks or not. That's before even addressing the time travel problems that always show up, conveniences of chance, and the overabundance of dialogue reiterating what is going on.
The music consists of very rock-spun ds detective sounding pieces all in a similar style to Ace Attorney, the sound effects are literally an alternate world's version of Ace Attorney sounds, but the visuals take a fun classic limited 3D turn into something from New Super Mario Bros that's always fun to look at. Animations are fluid (on this version) and expressive, popping straight out of the 2D-3D blend of backgrounds that look straight out of nothing, I can't think of a comparison it's just that uniquely stylized.
I don't know though, despite all my ramblings of 'idk pretty good, reaches just above a passing grade', this game reminds me how weird and wacky games can be. Why does this game exist? Fun, first and foremost. Every minor or major problem I had with this game was overriden by the things it does well that other games don't usually worry about that much. There's always something happening in the mystery so it's constantly recontextualising your understanding of what's happening, when most other mystery games I've played all work off a basic unchanging understanding of what's going on. New information is always being added (during investigation) whether it's useful or not, where other games give you information to confirm other pieces of information you already have. This game works off your pattern recognition to see connections through coincidence, adding on top of how other games work with your pattern recognition to follow more complex lines of reasoning than what had proceeded and to use the mechanics available to you in more complex scenarios. It's fresh (despite being over a decade old) and stretches some brain muscles that have been lying atrophied outside the 'safe' zone for mystery game design. And this isn't a dig at other mystery/puzzle games, just something nice to have and made this experience uniquely exciting to experience, covering over the problems this different style creates.
I don't know how to end reviews. Um... game good :)... uhh :|... Writing spoiler-free reviews of mystery games is limiting, but it's very much worth it to keep you following the logic in finding the conclusion along with the game. And damn, this one fun journey.
Really makes you feel like, wait what? Why did you barge into my house, can I help you? Did the lamp just move? Ghost Trick? What are you talking about, get out of my house. I'm going to call the police under my comical anvil hanging from a thread. Wait when did that pair of scissors get there?